Quiet

It has been really quiet around here this week. Jeremy left for Boys State in Aberdeen on Monday and doesn't come home until Saturday. He and his sister bicker quite a bit so it's been a little quiet around here since he left. I have to admit, I miss him and the bickering, it just doesn't seem normal around here without it (check back in with me next week, I will probably be complaining about the bickering). I guess I had better get used to it because in little over a year, he will be gone to college. I shudder at the thought of that but had better start getting accustom to the idea!

Lazy Day!

I have been pretty lazy today. It's still raining on and off so I am taking advantage of this time in the house. I have gotten several loads of laundry done, made a HUGE dinner, watched some t.v. and even had a little nap. There are still lots of things to do around the farm when it rains but I have opted for an afternoon in the house instead. I may just pay for that tomorrow but I am going to ENJOY today!

YIPEE!

The long days and hard work have paid off.....the crops are all finally in the ground....now we just need some timely rains and warm weather for a good growing season.

Chad is getting a few more soybeans ready to add to the drill for the last round.

Chad and Al (Chad's dad) adding soybeans to the drill. We farm with Chad's mom and dad (Al and Sharon)

The final round of soybeans.

Chad and me in one of the corn fields. The corn is coming up really good!

Now, I have to put a plug in for farmers....support your farmers....use ethanol and soy diesel and all other bi-products when possible.

New Baby

My good friend Laurie has a new baby at her house..... her horse Penny had a colt.

Laurie has always loved horses and just got Penny last fall....a few months later she wondered if she was pregnant....it turned out that she was.Isn't the colt cute??!! She calls her Sweet Pea for now. Congrats Laurie!

One Of My Favorite Photos

Jeremy and Courtney

I love this picture...thought I would share it with you. This is Jeremy and Courtney by Jeremy's 2001 Trans Am. He bought it last October....he took the loan out by himself (with us as co-signers of course, since he's a minor) and is making the payments by himself too. I was a little leery of letting him buy it.......it goes very, very fast but Chad talked me into going along with it. He thought it would be a good money management lesson for him. He is a very hard worker and he deserves to spend it on what he wants...or so I have been lead to believe. I will say, he takes good care of it....cleaning it out all the time, washing it and polishing the rims (must be a man thing, Chad polishes our suburban rims too). It's even a miracle that he's letting Courtney stand next to it, maybe that's why I like the picture so much....they were both cooperating that day!

Jeremy's newest additions to his Collection

Jeremy and his friends like to dress up in strange outfits for certain occasions.....such as Regions, Districts and State for the Girls Volleyball and Basketball teams. It's the way they show their school spirit and support for the teams. The girls also do this for the boys but are never quite as creative as the boys. Part of this ritual includes wearing "different" hats (for the state basketball tourney, Jeremy wore a pink cowboy hat). Anyway....Jeremy talked me into stopping at the Salvation Army store yesterday while we were in town and here are his newest purchases to add to his "hat collection". You can tell how proud he is of his new hats because he posed for pictures with them....he hates to have his picture taken.

This one is kinda cute on him!

Some of these are really, really UGLY!

Good Friends

Our good friends....Tom, Jackie and daughter Hannah......came over and helped us get our last 2 loads of pigs (1100) in last night. They have wanted to come and see the pigs lately, so they just showed up and helped unload and count them. Jackie had a blast....she loves pigs. She grew up on a cattle ranch so pigs are a little different for her. What GREAT friends!

Courtney, Hannah and me.....Courtney loves the pigs too!



Jackie.....giving out smooches, while Courtney and Hannah watch.

Now only if we can get them to show up and help vaccinate them all too--haha!

Family Fun

My family tends to do some weird, yet fun things when we get together (especially my sister Cheryl or my brother Eric). Notice how talented Cheryl is, she can work the paddle board while holding a drink.....pretty sure it is juice and not alcohol this day. This is one of the more mild things we have done, sometimes it gets pretty loud and crazy!

Sad Day

There is sadness here today. Karianne, the foreign exchange student that lives just down the road and went to school here this last year, goes back home to Norway today. She fit in the instant she arrived here in the States. She joined everything....volleyball, basketball, school play and golf to name a few....even though she had never tried any of these before in Norway. She was loved by all the kids. She is such a spunky, outgoing, lovable young lady and always has a smile on her face. My kids picked her up for school every day and brought her home from activities and she was also Jeremy's prom date.

She has found a special place in all of our hearts and will be missed immensely! Thanks for the wonderful year Karianne.....We love you!

Bring on the Bling

Courtney got her ears pierced yesterday----FINALLY! At age 15, she decided that she was brave enough (it helped that she took 2 friends with her that were not going to let her back out--thanks Tasha and Hannah). She has wanted them pierced for so long but has trouble with anxiety sometimes. We took her in when she was about 6 to have them pierced and she was doing pretty good until the put the mark on her ear with the marker...she darted out of the chair and refused to go through with it. Yesterday she finally found the courage to do it so.........BRING ON THE BLING!

Favorite Photo Friday (I know it's Saturday-- I was limited in time so I thought I would fill with this)

She likes to have her picture taken, can you tell??!!

A Different Kind of Quiz

I saw this on a blog and it sounded interesting so thought I would do this one too.

1. Was your first pregnancy planned? yes

2. Were you married at the time? yes

3. What were your reactions? I was scared and excited all at the same time.

4. Was abortion an option for you? Absolutely not--NEVER!

5. How old were you? 20

6. How did you find out you were pregnant? I went to the clinic for a pregnancy test.

7. Who did you tell first? I told my mom first. My husband was out of town and that was before cell phones so I had to tell someone.

8. Did you want to find out the sex? no

9. Due date? October 22 (which happens to be the anniversary of my dad's death)

10. Did you have morning sickness? no

11. What did you crave? smoked oysters (I know, weird)

12. Who/What irritated you most? nobody

13. What was your child's sex? male

14. Did you wish you had the opposite sex of what you had? never

15. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 42

16. Did you have a baby shower? yes, after he was home

17. Was it a surprise or did you know? I knew

18. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? yes, high blood pressure and he was born with group B strep and stayed in the neonatal intensive care for 2 weeks

19. Where did you give birth? At a hospital

20. How many hours were you in labor? 20 1/2

21. Who drove you to the hospital? my husband

22. Who watched you give birth? my husband

23. Was it natural or c-section? c-section

24. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? YES!

25. How much did your child weigh? 6 lbs. 14 oz.

26. When was your child actually born? 9:54 pm October 15

27. What did you name him/her? Jeremy

28. How old is your first born today? 17

Try this gals, I would love to hear your answers!

8 Random Things

Kitty asked for volunteers, so here goes....

1. I graduated from a Technical School in Dental Assisting but have never worked in that field.

2. I shattered my left thumb playing softball when I was 17 and had my 1st surgery then...had to have pins put in and cast it.

3. I tore my ACL and had to have it reconstructed 2 years ago. I was playing basketball at the time (sports and injuries seem to be a theme in my family).

4. My dad died when I was in high school. He was 37 years old and had a congenital heart defect (unknown). Both my kids have inherited the defect (the good news is....we know and can monitor them).

5. I had a miscarriage (at 3 months), between my 2 kids and still think about that baby today.

6. I quit smoking 5 years ago and am very proud of that accomplishment.

7. I love to make homemade bread (not in a bread machine) and am pretty good at it too.

8. I hate to dress up...I don't even own a dress or skirt right now. I love to wear shorts or blue jeans...t-shirts and hoodies....flip flops or tennis shoes.

I'm not into forcibly tagging so if anyone is interested in doing this... I tag you!

Sorry!

Ok, sorry about the gripe session yesterday. I am feeling much better today (maybe the beer and the chat I had with the Lord last night helped). Getting a few things done around the house probably helped too. I feel so disorganized when my house is in shambles, not that I'm a clean freak or anything, just hate clutter.

I was going through some of my pictures and thought you all might enjoy this one...........we act silly around here quite a bit.

Peeved!

Ok, I woke up this morning, very slowly and in a ho-hum mood. I think I am getting exhausted and a little overwhelmed in trying to get things done. I am trying to get the kids to get their things lined up for the last days of school (they are old enough and I refuse to do it for them anymore), we have feeders to put together yet, more pigs coming in on Wednesday and one more barn to wash and get ready by next week.....plus getting the crop in and sprayed. This is were I get peeved.... I am trying to get caught up on a few things in the house and hubby calls and needs fertilizer and seed at the field. I don't mind doing it but the fertilizer involves driving the semi which I totally hate doing! I'm in a bad mood anyway and then I have to deal with the stupid semi, which I suck at driving by the way!!!!! Here's a picture of said semi with Courtney (she drives it a little but even worse than me). Sorry, not a very good picture but the only one I have right now.


Anyway, I get the semi to the field ok and back home again and continue on with other things. I'm just getting in, so once again we are having frozen pizza for supper (if the kids ever come home to eat). It's a good thing the 8th graders sell Little Caesars pizza kits for fundraising. I'm hoping tomorrow my mood will be a whole lot better (and so is everyone else around here too)!!

Mother's Day

I love being a Mom!

I thank God every day for allowing me to be a mom and for granting me such wonderful kids!

Courtney.....My fun-loving, spunky daughter...Jeremy.....My kind-hearted, gentle son...I love you both!

Mixed Emotions

Kasey graduates from High School tomorrow!

Kasey is the daughter of Wayne, my husbands cousin and Laurie, one of my best friends. She is like a daughter to my husband and me and like a sister to both my kids, especially Courtney.

I am so glad that she is moving forward in the world but also sad because we will miss having her around.

She is such a bubbly person and always in a good mood. I have learned a lot from her even though she is much younger than me. She is not afraid to speak her mind and doesn't care what people think about her. She is not afraid to take chances and try new things.

She has been such a good friend to my kids and such a blessing to have in all of our lives.

We wish her the best of luck in her future!

Congratulations Kasey.....We love you!

New Pigs!

We filled one barn with new feeder pigs last night. Each barn is 200 ft. x 50 ft. and holds 1100 pigs (we have 3 barns). The pigs we get in are about 10 weeks old and weigh about 50lbs. Our job is to finish them out to market weight, usually around 240-250 lbs.

Here is Courtney with one pen of pigs (each barn has 40 pens). She doesn't always smile this big when working there!

Here is one pen of pigs eating out of their new feeder. Each barn has 20 feeders. We have 20 in place and 40 more to put together and in place at the site.

An inside view of the barn.

An outside view of the north barn.

Jeremy pressure washing the north barn (he won't get many dates looking like this but he is a really hard worker). It looks blurry but is actually the steam in the barn from washing. Each barn has to be squeegeed, pressure washed, disinfected and inspected before new pigs arrive.

Just another look into my glamorous life. As you can tell it is a family affair but we actually have a lot of fun and good laughs and "talk time" while getting the work done. My kids are very hard workers and very responsible. That has been one of our goals as parents and so we are very proud of them. I will not be afraid to send them out into the world when the time comes!

June Bugs

I was sitting in my hot tub late last night and noticed that the June bugs are out. I got to thinking about these neat little beetles and have a few unanswered questions about them. Why do they call them June bugs when we always see them mid to late May? Where do they come from? Why are they only here for just a short amount of time? Where do they disappear to? Inquiring minds want to know!

My Glamorous Life

In the last 2 days, I have checked cows several times, only to find a mere 2 new babies...have loaded about 1200 pigs onto semis (and end up head to toe crap),...squeegeed 100's of pounds of pig poop...unbolted and taken out feeders...have been putting together new pig feeders (may sound trivial to all of you but I am really excited to be getting new feeders)...and have had 4 showers. I am finally getting dinner today (it is now 3:00 and for those of you that know me well, you know how much I like my food) and I have to head back out to put more feeders together when I finish eating. Isn't my life just soooo GLAMOROUS!

Rejoice!

Yesterday was a great day! Courtney received the sacrament of Confirmation.

Courtney taking time to pose with me before Mass

Jeremy, Me, Courtney and Chad after Mass

Me, Courtney and Chad after Mass

Courtney being Confirmed. Her aunt Rochelle, who is her sponsor, standing behind Courtney.






WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY, LET US REJOICE IN THE LORD!

RAH! RAH!

Courtney had cheerleading tryouts yesterday. She is once again a varsity football cheerleader. This year was her first year cheering and she absolutely loved it! It works out great for us because Jeremy is on the team so we get to watch both of them at the same time.

It's raining....again!

Ok, so I am not going to complain because last year it rained and rained in the spring and then did not rain again until late in the growing season and the crops suffered. So, I am going to look on the bright side....we did get half of our corn acres planted and sprayed (and it needs rain to activate the spray)...we got some grass planted around the house (which also needs rain)... we can finally get caught up on tagging calves...we can get caught up on some much needed sleep...and we can get caught up on some odds and ends that get neglected around the farm during this busy season. Oh yeah, and I love the refreshing smell of spring rains.

Signs of Spring

You know it is spring when you have to mow your lawn for the first time. I just hate having to clean up the yard in the spring. Branches and sticks all over from the hard winter, junk that has blown in the yard from all the wind and rocks from where Chad pushed the snow in piles. I am lucky, Courtney is our "official mower". She took the job over from Jeremy several years ago. It takes her about 3 hours here at the farm and another 2-3 at the hog site. She doesn't usually complain too much about the job, anything to be out in the sun, soaking up the rays for a nice tan!

Hooray!

Jeremy

Courtney

Courtney placed in Shot Put for the first time in a high school track meet. She has placed in many relays before but never in an individual event. She got 5th place yesterday. She has worked very hard at shot put and really enjoys it. Now, her discus throwing is not so great but she doesn't like that as well either. I think that makes a huge difference. Jeremy is doing well also but has yet to place. There is really stiff competition in the boys shot put and discus. He keeps improving every track meet, beating his personal best every time so that's quite good too. The most important thing is that they are both having a lot of fun!